Life After Murder

Five Men in Search of Redemption

Writing any investigative book involves a high degree of difficulty if done well. When San Francisco journalist Nancy Mullane chose her topic, she added courage to the high degree of difficulty.

Mullane decided to become deeply involved with murderers, to find out if they could become good human beings while in San Quentin State Prison, and whether the California parole system allowed for mercy in the cases of young killers who matured inside their cells.

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Before publishing "Life After Murder," Mullane gained recognition as a radio journalist, not a print person. She had aired stories on National Public Radio (including KALW in San Francisco) and on Public Radio International's "This American Life." What became this book began as a radio assignment in 2007 about overcrowding in California's prisons. That is when Mullane met Don Cronk, Eddie Ramirez, Richie Rael, Phillip Seiler and Jesse Reed, murderers inside San Quentin who had taken responsibility for their crimes but wanted a new chance for life on the outside.

Each man was serving a life sentence with the possibility - but not the probability, Mullane learned - of parole. The courage of Mullane is related to her knowledge that she would almost surely be reviled by some who believe that murder is unforgivable, no matter what the circumstances. In an author's note, Mullane hopes to soften the inevitable resistance by noting that the killers "tore families apart, and devastated communities. ... I do not in any way intend to negate the seriousness of their crimes or the suffering they caused."

She addresses the families of the murder victims, writing that "they have suffered and continue to suffer immeasurably from senseless violence and loss. I am sorry for their grief and hope the telling of this book does not bring them additional sorrow, but answers."

Mullane decided against interviewing family members of the murder victims, choosing to limit her focus to the murderers, prison officials, parole board members appointed by the California governor, and the governors who have the right to overturn parole board rulings. I would have interviewed family members, then decided whether to include some of what I learned from them. That is more than a quibble, but Mullane's decision does not negate the importance of her book.

It might surprise at least some readers, as it surprised me, that of the approximately 1,000 murderers paroled in California during the past 21 years, not one has murdered again. That statistic obviously suggests rehabilitation is possible, that men who commit murders when "young, stupid, and selfish" - Mullane's characterization - can resist the impulse after 20 or more years in prison.

Parole board members and the governors who appoint them naturally do not want to release a potential recidivist into society. As a result, many inmates who probably pose no further risk remain incarcerated, contributing to prison crowding. As Mullane shows through her immersion reporting into the lives of five murderers - before they killed, while imprisoned and after their parole - nothing is simple.